First Look At The Private Passenger Auto Insurance Marketplace in Mass. For 2018

Our bi-monthly look at the current state of the Massachusetts private passenger auto insurance market

The following are the latest movements and trends in the market share of private passenger automobile (“PPA”) insurance companies in Massachusetts. All tables and graphs below reflect the current state of the market as of February 2018, the latest date for which complete data on the private passenger auto insurance marketplace is available.

As always, the data presented here is provided courtesy of the Commonwealth Automobile Reinsurers, the statistical agent for motor vehicle insurance in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

GEICO starts 2018 as the second largest PPA writer

Chart source: DOI

The Division of Insurance noted in its annual report data for 2016, that there a total of 49 companies that are currently writing private passenger automobile insurance in Massachusetts. The total Direct Written Premium for the line of insurance was $4,925,469,543 dollars in 2016, with the top 20 writing the vast majority of that with $4,607,077.606 dollars in Total Direct Written Premium or a 93.5% market share.

The remaining 29 companies wrote only $318,391,937 dollars in Direct Written Premium representing a mere 6.5% market share.

Turning to the latest data from CAR, at the end of 2016, beginning of 2017, GEICO started out as the fifth largest private passenger insurer in Massachusetts (reflecting the market as of December 2016), just two tenths of a percentage point behind Arbella. In 2017, and now continuing into 2018, GEICO now ranks as the second largest writer as of February with 93,634 exposures representing a 11.03% market share.

MAPFRE continues as the top insurer in Massachusetts

As of February 2018 there was a total of 849,168 exposures in force within the private passenger marketplace.

MAPFRE/Commerce continues as the largest writer in this marketplace with a 25.24% market share consisting of 214,370 exposures.

COMPANY NAME

EXPOSURES

MARKET SHARE

1. COMMERCE/MAPFRE

214,370

25.24%

2. GEICO

93,634

11.03%

3. LIBERTY MUTUAL

83,586

9.84%

4. SAFETY

83,453

9.83%

5. ARBELLA

66,738

7.86%

6. PLYMOUTH ROCK

48,299

5.69%

7. THE PREMIER

30,623

3.61%

8. METROPOLITAN

30,315

3.57%

9. PROGRESSIVE

30,310

3.57%

10. HANOVER

27,865

3.28%

11.U S A A

27,832

3.28%

12. AMICA MUTUAL

27,616

3.25%

13. QUINCY MUTUAL

16,990

2.00%

14. NORFOLK AND DEDHAM MUTUAL

10,539

1.24%

16. ALLSTATE

10,181

1.20%

17. NATIONAL GRANGE

9,934

1.17%

18. VERMONT MUTUAL

9,699

1.14%

19. PREFERRED MUTUAL

4,812

0.57%

20. OCCIDENTAL INS

4,440

0.52%

21. INTEGON

2,883

0.34%

22. STATE FARM

2,809

0.33%

23. ELECTRIC

2,434

0.29%

24. GREEN MOUNTAIN

2,041

0.24%

25. IDS

1,836

0.22%

26. FARM FAMLY

1,508

0.18%

27. BANKERS STANDARD

1,497

0.18%

28. PURE

995

0.12%

29. ESURANCE

919

0.11%

30. HARLEYSVILLE WORCESTER

501

0.06%

31. AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL

491

0.06%

31. ENCOMPASS

17

0.00%

Our look at the PPA market shifts and trends over the past five and ten years…

In order to give some perspective of the shifts in the marketplace over the past decade, in addition to featuring a graph of the Top Ten PPA insurers as of February 2018, Agency Checklists is also including similar graphs from five years ago in February 2013, as well as from ten years ago in February 2018. The goal is to present a more complete perspective on how the Massachusetts automobile insurance market has shifted during the past five and ten years, including which includes the first year of “Managed Competition.”

February 2018

Now compare that to the same date five years ago or in June 2012:

February 2013

Finally, the top 10 private passenger auto insurance companies in Massachusetts a decade ago, which also is the first official year of “Managed Competition”.

Leave A Comment or Question

Is GEICO getting special treatment from the Mass DOI? Every insurer must show classification and rating information on their policies EXCEPT GEICO.. If insured files a complaint to request that information,DOI ignores it. Now why would that be?

I am not sure how Geico operates, but I have commercial clients that left our agency and now have policies with Geico as personal auto. I am not sure how a vehicle registered to a corporation can be insured by a personal policy, especially when it’s a Ford F-250 or a cargo van that carries materials and equipment. But if Geico accepts and no one is checking, oh well, their rates are just going to get higher.

Article Comments & Updates

Steve Rogers I realize this is not an easy job because of the many competing interests. My only issue with the Commissioner is the lack of a direct response to my communication to his office regarding the handling of the Encompass/Hanover transfer of business. The action Encompass... Nov 13, 8:53 AM

Dennis Kulp I am a car rental company. If an individual's car is disabled due to an accident they are entitled to be made whole with either the use of another car or compensation. What their particular need for or use of that replacement car is not... Nov 03, 8:34 AM

Lisa Johnson Great seeing you and Julia at the Big Event! Love the video prize drawing - great idea! Oct 30, 2:43 PM

Beth Murphy It was very nice to meet you at The Big Event. Thank you again for sharing your wealth of knowledge within the insurance industry and beyond. 🙂 Enjoy your day! Oct 30, 8:24 AM